Thursday, December 31, 2009

Hi friends! The official "Winter Break" might not be quite over yet, but my little blog break definitely is. I'm SO ready to get back into more regular creating and posting - starting today!

I've pulled out a few of my current very favorite things to create a sweet, vintage{ish} anniversary card - the Life Stories #1 patterned paper collection by My Mind's Eye, chipboard, distressing, sewing, and bling.

I started with the wonderful decorative frame, which is a punch-out paper die-cut from Life Stories, then dressed the Maya Road chipboard lovebirds in some coordinating Life Stories papers, and then just played with pattern and layer combinations. I love the new Decorative 2" Round Wide Borders by JustRite Stamps, so I tucked one of those in behind the birds and the Melissa Frances glittered chipboard heart. The beautiful JustRite borders make such great background accents like this. The bling is by Zva Creative, and the "love of a lifetime" rub-on in the lower left corner is from my Stampin' Up stash.

I finished the inside with a simple top border that includes the Happy Anniversary semicircle sentiment, which is from JustRite's Celebrations Demi Phrases set. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.

Be sure to check out all the Sales & Specials at Stamper's Dream. The MME Life Stories paper collections, the newest JustRite sets, and a whole lot of other dreamy papercrafting goodies are on sale!

Thanks so much for visiting! I've missed blogging these last couple of weeks, and I've missed all of you! Happy New Year and farewell 2009!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Belated Merry Christmas wishes to all my blog readers! I hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had a wonderful, blessed time yesterday. My family sure did! I have a quick post today with my sample for Jen's Sketch For You To Try. Be sure to check out all the samples for inspiration, and then I hope you'll play along. Jen's got a sweet prize this week!

The Make A Wish sentiment is from the Just A Note set by JustRite, which is on sale right now at Stamper's Dream, along with a host of other JustRite sets and loads of other goodies. You'll find all the great Stamper's Dream deals under Sales & Specials. Happy shopping!!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

I adore the Henry Mouse character from Whiff of Joy. Whenever I see his precious little face, I just want to squeeze him! Stamper's Dream carries a wonderful selection of Whiff of Joy images, including quite a few of these Henry Mouse cuties. Here I've used Henry Mouse Hugging Heart, a Penny Black sentiment, and some papers from the Be-Loved collection by My Mind's Eye to make a bright and cheery Valentine card. I colored with Copics (mostly) and Prismacolor pencils, trimmed out Henry and popped him up once. The layout is Jen's Sketch For You To Try. Check out what these SFYTT sisters put together with the same sketch:

I couldn't get enough of either Henry or the fun sketch, so I did another one using Henry Mouse with Christmas Bauble.

This particular Henry is no longer available at Stamper's Dream, but you can check out all the other cute Henrys HERE. Coloring is with Copics and Prismacolors. The papers are from the Bissette pack by SEI. I keep telling myself I will *not* buy any more of the large 12x12 paper collections from Michael's/JoAnn's/ACMoore, since I have a hard enough time putting a dent in packs a quarter of their size, but the other day, I ended up bringing home three of them - yikes! I have a serious paper issue! Anyone else??

I'm going to hurry up and post this while I still have power. My part of Virginia has close to a foot of snow already and I think this might be just the beginning. That's a LOT for us!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Christmas is next week? Oh my! My kiddoes have their Christmas portrait appointment this afternoon, and then I'll be ready to start mailing out my cards. Until then, I'm determined to crank out a few more holiday cards. I have some beautiful images that haven't seen ink yet, and I'm not ready to put them away until next year without making at least a few more things.

This gorgeous Draft Horses image by Impression Obsession is one of them. The detail on this is incredible! I stamped in Ranger Walnut Stain Distress Ink onto one of the Kraft designer papers in the Life Stories line by My Mind's Eye, very lightly colored some brown onto the horses, and then added a bit more color to the wreath (all with Prismacolor pencils).

I really wanted to include a sentiment on the front, but was a bit stumped on where to put it. I ended up going with a JustRite circular sentiment (from A Merry Little Christmas - currently 40% off at Stamper's Dream) that I cut into a ring and placed just behind the big bow-snowflake-button embellishment combo. I like it there! Visible, but very unobtrusive. Other accents are some Offray satin ribbon, the same beautiful May Arts woven burlap trim that I also used yesterday (it works so well with the Life Stories collections), and some punched snowflakes.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I stamped!! Yay, I stamped! My studio is put back together in reasonable order (my husband says it looks like a totally different room), the power tools have been returned to the shop (if you can call it a shop), and two 55-gallon garbage bags are sitting by the curb awaiting trash pick-up as I write. I still need to tackle the sprawl that has claimed a few basement closets, but at least the main room is back in working order. And not a minute too soon, as I've been quite ill-tempered without my daily creative fix. And I do mean quite! :/

First on my agenda was the much belated Sketch For You To Try sample. For those who get sketchy with us regularly, we'll call my project the SYAT this week, for Sketch You Already Tried. Or if you haven't tried it yet ... whatcha waiting for? ;) Here are some links for inspiration:

The designer papers are from the Life Stories line by My Mind's Eye, the text print is from an old book, the tree stamp is from Verve's Christmas in the Air set, and the sentiment is from Verve's Blessed Christmas set. And by the way, the SU polka-dot ribbon is a nearly exact match for the card base (made of Birchtone [medium] cardstock by Prism). I have no idea why it looks so different in the photo :)

In other news, it's VIP day at My Favorite Things! What's VIP day? Read all about it HERE! But hurry, the VIP package is available today only, and in limited quanitities.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

I am soooo sorry if you've stopped by yesterday or today looking for my sample for Jen's Sketch For You To Try! In my last post, I mentioned a much-needed stamp room purge and overhaul. My room right now is in such disarray that I can't possibly get any stamping done. I keep thinking I'll carve out some time and space to get something made, but I've been so busy hosting family that it just hasn't happened. I'm aiming for tomorrow! Again, so sorry!

If you haven't checked out the sketch and everyone else's samples yet this weekend, here are some links:

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Just a quick post today. Wanted to share a card I made a few weeks ago for Verve's most recent release. The butterflies are from an older, but favorite set called Beautiful Kindness, and the sentiment is done with one of the thank you greetings from the new Thankful Hearts. I used lots of different patterns from Basic Grey's charming Nook & Pantry collection (the 6x6 size). The ribbon and buttons are by Papertrey, and the buttons are threaded with thin strips of cardstock, an idea I got from one of Susan's awesome Susie Q-Tips.

I also wanted to give a heads up that my blogging is about to become rather sporadic as we fly through this holiday season. I promised myself and my husband I'd take December off except for a few posts here and there, including Jen's Saturday SFYTT. I'm looking forward to spending extra time with friends and family and to completing some home projects that are long overdue - including a huge stamp room purge/reorg. (Watch for some Christmas candy soon!)

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Helloooooo Saturday! What an awesome morning I've had so far. For the first time in 2 1/2 years, not one, not two, but all three of my kids decided to sleep past 9 am! Being the night owl that I am, for this I am so grateful. Not only that, but we all woke up to the white stuff! Covering the ground and still falling. I was looking forward to doing some shopping this morning, watching my oldest son's first basketball game of the season this afternoon, and then going to see New Moon (finally) with a friend tonight, but we all might be staying put instead. The Sheriff's Office is reminding us, "Do not travel unless absolutely necessary." The shopping and basketball I can do without, but the Edward fix?

Today's card is my sample for Jen's Sketch For You To Try. It's not exactly a literal interpretation, but all the sketch elements are there, so it should be good and legal :) I used the ornament in place of a large circle on the sketch and created a faux rectangle layer behind it with some scoring and piercing. The ornament is part of a beautiful piece of Fancy Pants designer paper - Deck the Halls from the Christmas Magic Collection. In fact the whole card front is from that dp collection. No card stock except for the ivory base. Not much stamping either. Just the sweet sentiment, "from our house to yours," which is from Verve's O Christmas Tree.

I finished the inside with a Merry Christmas sentiment, also from O Christmas Tree:

And below is a better look at the scoring and piercing that create the faux layer. And by the way, in case it's not evident, for the ornament, I just cut it out of the patterned paper using a hobby knife, then popped it up on the hole it left in the dp. Not something I'd normally advise, but I wanted to keep the brown bow and string part of the ornament design, and it turned out looking just fine (IMHO):

Be sure to visit all the SFYTT sisters for more inspiration. And give a warm welcome to our new December guest designer, too! You're going to love her!!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Today, Stamper's Dream is wrapping up another JustRite Week. Hope you've enjoyed all the projects shown so far! Be sure to visit Cammie, Michelle, and Tosh, who all have projects to share today as well.

I'm excited to share a Christmas countdown project today. The windowed pocket at the upper left holds a tag that shows the number of days left until Christmas. (I think 21 is accurate for today - how scary is that??). Here's a closer look:

The circle frame on top of the pocket was made by stamping one of the 2" Decorative Round Wide Borders on green and one of the Just A Note 1 5/8" borders on black. (For the black ring, I used a star border and stamped in white ink. To help it stand out a bit more, I dotted the centers of each star with a white gel pen.) I cut both stamped images into rings using Spellbinders circle Nestabilities.

On the tag is a punched circle that shows the number of days left until Christmas. Here's a look at the tag out of its pocket:

The brackets and numbers are from the Curlz Monogram Kit 1 5/8" and have been stamped onto a circle punched from one of the patterns from the Mistletoe collection by Making Memories. (The green "Merry & Bright" ring, and the white journaling lines on the red background were part of the patterned paper. This pattern was *perfect* for this project. I'll show you some more number circles later.) Another thing that's perfect for a project like this? JustRite stamps. Can you imagine how many rub-ons this would take? Gotta love how the stamps keep on giving and giving and giving.

At first, I was going to make a whole bunch of tags, each with its own number and just switch out the tags each day, but that's a lot of tags! What I did instead was wrap the tag with a piece of acetate to create a clear pocket. Now all I have to change each day is the stamped number circle inside the clear pocket. The acetate is just a sleeve wrapped on the left and right secured on the back with Scor-Tape. I added a line of machine stitching along the bottom to close the pocket bottom and allow the number circle to rest in such a spot that it can be seen through the pocket window when the tag is in place. High-tech engineering here, folks ;) I put a little pull tab on the number circle to make it easier to get in and out. Here's a closer look:

Did I mention how *perfect* this Mistletoe pattern is??

Okay, some more details and pictures:

The glittered green chipboard letters? Be still my heart!! They are glittered Thickers by American Crafts. Can we talk major hoardfest with these? I've had them for at least a year waiting for just the right project. They look pretty sparkly in the pictures, but they are even better in real life. And they came just like this! No painting, no heat-and-stick powder, no glue pad, no fuss. I just thought it would be cool to substitute a fun little Christmas tree and button for the letter "i." There are actually two trees, layered, and both were cut from one of the Mistletoe patterns. The little "until" banner was done with JustRite's 15-point Times New Roman letter stamps (part of the Deluxe 2" Round Monogram Kit, as well as some other JustRite sets.)

The whole thing is mounted onto a 6x8 glossy ceramic tile (the kind you'd see in a bathroom) of all things. I wanted something flat, super thick, and sturdy, and this fit the bill. I plan on displaying this on a small wire picture stand that I got at Michael's.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Hi everyone! If you've been blog hopping with My Favorite Things tonight, then welcome to the end of the line! Do you love this month's sets? And how amazing have all the projects been? If you just happened by, then you'll want to catch up first. Scoot on over to Kim to begin!

For my card, I've used the new Robot 4 digi stamp and a sentiment from Love Machine. Love Machine was released in kit format a few months ago, but tonight it became available separately. I used papers from Cosmo Cricket's Boyfriend and Early Bird collections along with this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch (#144). The image is printed onto Neenah white card stock using an HP inkjet printer, then colored with Copic markers and trimmed out. I just got some of MFT's baby braddies (summer collection)- love them!! I used three of them in place of some of the dots on the robot, and also used them to flank each segment of the sentiment.

Thanks so much for hopping with My Favorite Things tonight! You'll find all the new stamps and products in the Brand Spankin' New section of the MFT store! Happy shopping!

For my project, I used three of the new JustRite products: the sentiment and circle border just behind it are from Just A Note 1 5/8" Borders & Centers, the white flourish pattern on the dark blue square frame is from the new 2" Square Decorative Borders, and last, the row of tiny circles that is stamped on the dark blue horizontal strips along the top and bottom is from the Curlz Monogram Kit 1 5/8". Can I tell you how much I'm loving the square frames? Such pretty patterns and so much fun to combine with the existing circle and oval JustRite sets.

There's a lot of punching, layering, and die-cutting going on with this one. The circles, squares, snowflake frame, and ricrac border are all done with Spellbinders dies. The brown scroll die-cuts are from a Cuttlebug die, and the large red scallops are actually hand-cut, following the circle pattern on a piece of patterned paper (from Kaiser Craft's Grandiose collection). The light blue-gray paper and the blue with white scroll piece that's behind the snowflake frame are both from Kaiser Craft's Vagabond Collection. I wrapped May Arts ivory burlap string around the snowflake frame and secured the four corners with ivory buttons. Brown brads and machine stitching add a little somethin' to the edges.

One more thing - you can't see it well, but the raised, dry embossed parts of the snowflake frame are covered with clear glitter. With the die in place, I sponged on VersaMark ink to the embossed areas, then added the glitter via heat-and-stick powder. For the ricrac borders, I smooshed them in VersaMark, then added glitter the same way. Very sparkly in real life.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Today was the MFTeaser day for four new Pure Innocence sets from My Favorite Things. Be sure to hit Kim's blog for a full list of designers who posted teasers earlier today. I'm sneaking in an extra teaser here at {literally} the eleventh hour ... just finished it up and couldn't wait to post!

This little cutie is called Heart Stripes - isn't she precious?! I colored her with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, then sponged on some color with the Nestabilities die still in place (too bad that part is way washed out in the photo). The blue and green patterned papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird, and the yellow dot paper is BoBunny.

Nine new MFT sets, including four Pure Innocence sets, will be released on Wednesday, December 2, at 10 pm EST in the MFT store. Prior to that (at 8 pm EST), we'll be having a New Release Par-Tay right HERE in the MFT Forum on Splitcoast.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

My Favorite Things is just a few days away from a brand-new release (this Wednesday, 10 pm EST), and you know that means ... time for MFTeasers! You're going to love this month's sets! Even more, you're going to love the fresh faces we have in our design team line-up! Every December, Kim so graciously and generously gives her regular design team the option of a lighter load and invites some of MFT's very talented "junkies" to help out as part of a December temp team. Thank you, Kim, and thank you, temp team!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Even though I've been making Christmas cards since the end of August, the Christmas season didn't really begin until yesterday. I listened to Christmas music for the first time this year while my family headed back home from a wonderful Thanksgiving visit with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Now it's time to pull out all the holiday decorations. I'm feeling inspired to go all out this year! We'll see what "all out" actually looks like by Christmas Eve. Time has a way of getting away from me ;)

Case in point, here it is Saturday afternoon, and I'm just getting around to posting my sample for today's Sketch For You To Try. Sorry about that! To see the sketch, Jen's sample, and guest designer Amy White's sample, visit i{heart}2stamp. And then for more inspiration, visit the rest of the SFYTT sisters: Amy Rohl, Kelly Lunceford, Leigh O'Brien, and Susan Liles. We'd love to have you play along, too. Upload your creation to Jen's post and remember to use keyword SFYTT in the online galleries.

As soon as I saw the two squares in the sketch, I knew I wanted to play with JustRite's new Square Decorative Frames - LOVE these!! I used two sizes of square Nestabilities to cut the stamped images into true frames. I switched the accent on the sketch to be my focal point - the large snowflake and sentiment in the center. For that, I painted a Bazzill chipboard snowflake with ivory acrylic paint, then coated it with clear glitter. The sentiment is from JustRite's A Merry Little Christmas set and is cut with a Spellbinders scalloped circle die and sponged with Soft Sky ink.

Here's a close-up where you can see the glitter better. SO sparkly in real life!

In case you haven't seen the great news, Stamper's Dream is having a Black Friday through Cyber Monday sale! Among many other things, all the JustRite Christmas stamps (including the A Merry Little Christmas set that I used today) are on sale for 30% off! And then, all next week, Stamper's Dream will host a brand-new JustRite Week featuring all the new sets JustRite recently released (including the awesome square frames in today's card). Tune in Monday through Friday as the Dream Team struts its stuff ;) Michelle always posts the full schedule on her blog, so that's a great place to start on Monday. (I'll be posting projects on Tuesday and Friday.)

Friday, November 27, 2009

The new Verve sets are now officially released, and we’re topping off today's Thankful Hearts festivities with a blog hop. If you arrived here from Julee, you’re right where you should be. If you’ve just happened by, then you’ll want to go one step back, to Poetic Artistry, where Julee kicks things off for us tonight. To make this hop even sweeter, we’ve got a special treat hidden along the way for one lucky commenter. So if you see something that makes you smile, be sure to give a little shout-out in the comments for a chance to win our entire release!

The sentiment, from Celebration of Thanks, is stamped on designer paper from the Life Stories Collection by My Mind's Eye. Behind that is a vertical strip made from some of the punch-outs in the same MME collection and some dark brown twill. Then behind that is the circle image from Thankful Accents, which has been stamped onto one of the other punch-outs. Last is the card base, made of brown card stock topped with a piece of Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossed Kraft card stock with EK Success Scalloped Diamond borders. I embellished with some lace, buttons, and machine stitching.

Some of the design elements are carried over to the inside, where I added another sentiment, this time from Thankful Accents:

Your next stop on the hop is the oh-so-talented Mercy! I know she'll have something gorgeous for us to drool over!

Have you stopped by the Thankful Hearts Blog Party on the Verve blog yet? If not, be sure to check in and catch up on all the challenges and set reveals that we've been posting all day long. You just *know* there are lots of fun chances for prizes, as well as some pretty yummy eye candy along the way!

We just now revealed the final set for the evening - Thankful Accents. What an awesome set!! I had so much fun working with it. Here is the sample I'm showing on the Verve blog:

And a detail shot:

To see the rest of the set and Amber's sample project, go HERE. The color combo came from Mercy and Teresa's color challenge from earlier today. Details on that are HERE.

Next is a card I made for the sketch challenge that Laurie and Tosh posted earlier today. Details on that challenge can be found HERE.

The little hearts in my bouquet are from Thankful Accents, and the heart border on the yellow strip as well as the sentiment are from Thankful Hearts, which was revealed earlier today right HERE.

We'll be wrapping up our blog party in an hour (9 pm EST) with a Thankful Hearts Blog Hop. See you again then :)

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Hi friends, just wanted to pop in and wish my fellow Americans a very Happy Thanksgiving!

And to all the many kind visitors to this little blog of mine, whether you've come just once or you come every day, whether you leave loads of comments or prefer to observe quietly, I just want to say thank you for sharing this wonderful papercrafting journey with me. My life is so richly blessed by each and every one of you. Who knew this little hobby would provide such treasure? Thank you!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Today, over on the Verve blog, I've shared the final project in Verve's November Project Parade. Our theme this month is Home for the Holidays: Gifts, Decor, and More. If you haven't seen all the budget-friendly holiday projects, you really should have a look. So many wonderful, creative ideas! The Divas have been taking turns posting projects each day since November 11, so there's lots to see. With every Project Parade, you're invited to play along for a chance to win a Verve gift certificate. There's still time - the deadline is midnight (MST) Thursday.

You can read more about my treat-filled glass jar and see some close-ups HERE.